I fully agree.
Most people are afraid of what they don't know.
A colleague restrung just the crosses on a frame
and broke it. I suppose the term "conventional wisdom" means nothing to you. Along those lines, I've always been told not to stare at the sun and have never. I take it you must do it all the time.
The most vocal opposition against re-stringing just the crosses are from those who haven't done it before.
Really? And how do you know this? This seems very presumptive. Have you asked the "vocal opposition" down to the last man?
In fact, the playability is the same/better than before,
Really? Do you have some empirical data to support this? Everything I've read and experienced is to the contrary. Nate Ferguson's advice to the tennis playing public is to restring as often as you can afford it. If your assumption were correct, wouldn't the cadre at the professional level be doing just what you advocate? Seems they don't.
if you know how to do it.
Is there some special way to string crosses? Did your master convey to you some secret knowledge? Seems to me stringing or even restringing crosses would be the same. I would be interested to know what special knowledge or technique is required to do this above and beyond what us "basic" stringers who don't restring just crosses do.
I have been re-tensioning mains/crosses all the time and can duplicate the playability of a fresh string job.
Really? Again, do you have any empirical data to support this? Elasticity cannot be reclaimed. Elasticity is lost with each hit of the ball. Is there some magic oil your master recommended to you that restores a strings properties? Is there some incantation from Georgia that you say when stringing that restores the string? Making such a claim as this completely removes all credibility. Others who restring crosses have said they do so
because the mains are not as lively upon restringing. So I'm very interested in which is correct: are the strings magically revived or are they "broken in" and not as lively?
An added benefit is that when you use the right tension, the playability last significantly longer than a fresh string job.
Really?!?!?! And the proof of this is in some measurements you've taken? Do you have a log of string bed tension from first install through restring through breaking or cutting out? Do you have anything other than anecdotal data from a one-sided view of this? Because if you don't, my experience is diametrically opposite of yours.
Further, the experience of the vast tennis playing population is aligned with mine. If strings play better only restringing the crosses, then why don't pros do it? It couldn't be breakage because they can afford to carry more rackets. Since the elite change frames every 7 to 9 games, they could have adopt a regiment as you describe and have the on-site stringer install just the crosses after several practice sessions or however many it took to "break in" the mains. But the ugly face of reality says that they don't do this precisely because fresh strings play better than old ones. And since these chaps' livelihood depends on their gear.....well I'll take their word.
In the end, if you (or anybody else) want to string just the crosses, as
@MAX PLY said,
have at it. But please do not try and justify the practice by saying that it makes the string better or that the string somehow revives itself to a new state. That is the very definition of disingenuous.
